Secretary of state to attend this week’s meeting between UK govt, digital ID industry

This week, the UK government is having a face-to-face with industry trade groups representing the digital identity sector – the first since it announced in January that its UK.gov Wallet might be competing with private-sector products certified under its own digital trust framework.

Wednesday will see representatives from the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), the Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP), techUK and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Digital Identity meet with officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Government Digital Service (GDS). One notable speaker who has been added to the slate is secretary of state for DSIT Peter Kyle, who spearheaded the Gov.uk Wallet initiative.

Coverage in Computer Weekly says officials intend to discuss the Gov.uk Wallet in more detail, explain how it relates to the Data Bill and the Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF) and explore the next steps in engaging with the private sector.

Industry groups will have questions about how the government’s plan risks wiping out the small businesses that it encouraged to innovate on digital ID. They argue that government has a natural advantage over smaller entities, and that between the Gov.uk Wallet scheme and the emergent offerings from Big Tech, smaller providers have little chance of surviving. Investors are reportedly already in flight.

Google recently announced that it is exploring certification within the DIATF, “which could allow residents to use their Google Wallet ID passes for alcohol purchases and more.”

CW’s piece quotes ADVP chair David Crack, who says “the challenge for government is to demonstrate they really are listening to our message that ‘markets should innovate, and governments should regulate’.” “We would like to understand why they believe they can use taxpayers’ money to out-innovate the market.”

The surprise January announcement came as part of a broader push to expedite digital transformation and corresponding legislation in the UK. Ofcom is fielding increasing calls for it to get busy with enforcement of the Online Safety Act (OSA) – and counter-calls for it to slow down and work out exactly what it is trying to achieve.

The government’s current modus operandi appears to favor speed, but in the case of the Gov.uk Wallet, it may be forced to hit the brakes and back up a bit, to avoid running down the DIATF companies it ostensibly supports.

Some in the mix have called for the government to abandon the wallet plan altogether – which seems like an unlikely bet, considering Kyle’s attendance at this week’s meeting.

Where that leaves independent biometric digital identification, verification and age assurance providers is anyone’s guess. But most of the prognostication is not rosy. As Computer Weekly points out, “there are currently more than 50 companies registered with the DIATF. There is no way the UK market will support that many digital ID providers in the long term.”

And when they are forced to decide, many will go with the names they know, namely Apple and Google. “The race is on for the new entrants – the unfamiliar names – to establish themselves in the public eye in time for the market’s growth phase,” says the piece. “There’s a land grab underway – unless government policy prevents it.”

But government policy may be to encourage it – or so goes the argument from CW’s editor in chief, Chris Glick, who suggests the DIATF and its attendant companies might be nothing but a smokescreen for the wide implementation of digital ID, which will ultimately evaporate as the U.S. tech titans claim their stake.

“Everybody knows the Tony Blair Institute is pushing digital identity and advising Labour behind the scenes,” Glick says. “The biggest blocker is Britain’s cultural resistance to ID cards and any suggestion that digital identity is a means to introduce such a policy by the back door. How do you stop that? By pointing to a thriving private sector where more than 50 independent companies and their smart investors are putting money into a plural and distributed market that ensures the government cannot dominate nor use your digital wallets as some form of official virtual ID card.”

“If you’re the average smartphone user though, you’ll trust Apple and Google – mostly. They already know everything about you, after all.”

Article Topics

ADVP  |  AVPA  |  Data (Use and Access) Bill (DUA)  |  Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT)  |  digital ID  |  Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF)  |  digital wallets  |  Gov.UK